My friend was in Osaka this week and they took the bullet train from there to Tokyo to catch their flight. Is that possible for our guys?

The information I found was that it takes roughly 2 and a half to 3 hours to get from Osaka to Tokyo (depending on the line), which would (with a reduced pit stop) get the teams in late evening on the 26th or early morning on the 27th. There's not a shortage of trains available so that won't be a problem. None of them will be able to make the last flight out (BR 2195 or EL 2125 2000 2300 NRT TPE) on the 26th, however with the bunching at the airport, there is sure to be jockeying for direct flights out from Tokyo, of which there are many:

EL 2103 or BR 2181 0920 1150 CI 0107 0940 1230JL 0641 1000 1235

If the sighting at Taipei 101 is accurate, then Jen/Nate and TKR make the first flight, possibly accompanied by the other teams. Tasks in Taipei take up the rest of the afternoon, and the pit stop is in the evening of the 27th, setting up for flights out on the 28th which apskip has outlined in great detail.

(This is what happens when you try not to fossilize your options at 12:30 in the morning - take a grain of salt with it )

Let's alter the checkin times I postulated to earlier, say starting at 7pm for Christina/Ronald, 730pm for Nathan/Jennifer, and 8pm for Donald/Nicholas. I do not believe that World Race Productions is going to mess with the 12 hour checkin to something lower. They have occasionally done so with 24 hour checkins on this race, but I don't see them altering a fundamental part of the game.

That means that Christina/Ronald will not be able to get any flight ealier than about 0830. That ruled out a possible flight combination from KIX to FUK(our friend Fukuoka) and FUK to TPE with the original departure at 0745 and the final arrival at 1205.

The first flight KIX NRT(Tokyo-Narita for the unitiated) is NH2176, which I expect that no team can get. The next is JL3002 which leaves 0825 and arrives 0940. I expect that Christina/Ronald could get that one, but it would be tight. Next is the connection for Taipei, which would be EL2109 departing NRT 1150 arriving TPE 1445. It's one of those proofs of the old saw "You can't get there in time from here." I have also checked through Haneda airport, which has early flights from Osaka, but teams could not catch earlier than the 0830 0935 JL106. however, you are then stranded at Haneda and the best flight is back through Osaka and then to Taipei, arriving at 1505. Not too swift and obviously they didn't do that.

Conclusion: the earliest route for that time of day is nonstop Osaka Taipei. I have the times listed in a post above. The only way that could be altered is if teams got to Tokyo-Haneda before 0635 (impossible) or to Narita before 0920(also impossible) sicne the first flight from Osaka(Itami) leaves at 0800 arriving at 0910 with 10 minutes connect time, not anything a racer would chance. A bullet train could get teams to downtown Tokyo and then have the 1+ hour train ride to Narita, but that doesn't change anything(it's a bit worse, actually).

7. 21 Teams took 4.5 hour buses from 0500 to 0800 to split, then the SNAV ferry at 1700 arriving 2140 to Ancona, then U-drive cars from Ancona at least 212 miles to Empoli(west of Florence). 22 12 hour Pitstop in florence

Although it is possible for teasm to get to LAX, SAN, or LAS late evening or SEA or PDX early to mid evening, I do not believe that there will be anything beyond Alaska on this race. Others have a different point of view.

You're appeared to be right, CHATEAU. However, the 24 hour pitstop has screwed it up for you. There is a fatal flaw in your total flight route and timing. It is the non-existence of AI358 on Wed. July 25 out of Mumbai. Since it doesn't fly on Wednesdays, there is nothing else Mumbai to Hong Kong that can connect you to CX506 in time for its 1020 departure to Osaka. the only flight teams can use is A310(the one I am showing in my current Timeline), which stops in delhi and HongKong before finishing in Seoul. With the connection from Seoul to KIX arriving at 2pm, why would any team have got offin Hong Kong and taken a flight scheduled to arrive 40 minutes later?

No silly! I don't have any flight AI358 in my route or timing.

I think the three teams used AI310 to get from Mumbai to Hong Kong. The proof is in these two shots:

The first one shows the teams checking into flight AI310 in Mumbai and the second one shows them standing around talking and wondering about TK & Rachel at the Hong Kong airport. AI310 arrived at HKG at 7:00 am. So the shot was taken there between 7:00 am and 9:50 am when CX506 left for Osaka (TWoP has 9:50 instead of 10:20 am). Teams would not get off flight AI310 in Hong Kong if they were booked on its continuation to Seoul. That should be strong enough reason for us to conclude that they did not fly to Seoul.

I think you are correct in principal about the route through Seoul being the better choice. But in fact you are not correct that the teams used that route. Perhaps the seats were sold out for the Hong Kong to Seoul leg of flight AI310. So the racers had to patch in a connection at Hong Kong.

And then things got even weirder. Nate and Jen jogged into the pit stop, looking irritated, during the daytime. We cut to Phil watching them approach, in daytime. But then he started to talk, and as he did, we cut back to Nate and Jen, and behind them it was dusk. Then back to Phil, and it was dusk there, too. I replayed it to make sure I wasn't crazy, but sure enough, in the first shot of Nate-Jen, there was an unlit Ferris wheel behind them; in the second shot, the lights were on.

Even weirder, in the daytime shot of Nate and Jen, they looked peeved, but in the dusk shot, they actually looked far calmer. What was going on here? Were they called back later for reshoots? And if so, why? In the second shot, where they didn't look unhappy at all, Phil asked them, ''You guys are bummed right now, right?'' It was like he was reminding them to be their usual pissed selves. Had something happened in between to cheer them up? Were they given an electric vehicle, too? It felt as if the show were edited by the guy who did the Watergate tapes.

As I tried to wrap my mind around this, the emotional coda of TK and Rachel's truncated and tardy leg began. They were more than three hours behind, and we saw them leisurely breeze through all the challenges (poor cleaning man and cab couple, forced to wait hours for them to show up), all the while talking about how much they cared for each other. It had all the hallmarks of a let's bid adieu to this loving couple montage, and yet after all that, it ended up being non-elimination. Why were we given this farewell tour with them if they were sticking around? This episode raised far more questions than it answered, and damn it, I want answers. Electric answers.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

And then things got even weirder. Nate and Jen jogged into the pit stop, looking irritated, during the daytime. We cut to Phil watching them approach, in daytime. But then he started to talk, and as he did, we cut back to Nate and Jen, and behind them it was dusk. Then back to Phil, and it was dusk there, too. I replayed it to make sure I wasn't crazy, but sure enough, in the first shot of Nate-Jen, there was an unlit Ferris wheel behind them; in the second shot, the lights were on.

Even weirder, in the daytime shot of Nate and Jen, they looked peeved, but in the dusk shot, they actually looked far calmer. What was going on here? Were they called back later for reshoots? And if so, why? In the second shot, where they didn't look unhappy at all, Phil asked them, ''You guys are bummed right now, right?'' It was like he was reminding them to be their usual pissed selves. Had something happened in between to cheer them up? Were they given an electric vehicle, too? It felt as if the show were edited by the guy who did the Watergate tapes.

As I tried to wrap my mind around this, the emotional coda of TK and Rachel's truncated and tardy leg began. They were more than three hours behind, and we saw them leisurely breeze through all the challenges (poor cleaning man and cab couple, forced to wait hours for them to show up), all the while talking about how much they cared for each other. It had all the hallmarks of a let's bid adieu to this loving couple montage, and yet after all that, it ended up being non-elimination. Why were we given this farewell tour with them if they were sticking around? This episode raised far more questions than it answered, and damn it, I want answers. Electric answers.

peach ill say this, if this leg was orignally an elimination leg and they changed it, its prob because of logistics on the fly, or a glimps into the future. btw they have teased us before with the editing like last night fwiw

Nothing odd about that arrival. It was a typical mat arrival scene when the sun was setting. Sure it was lighter out when Jenn & Nate jogged up to the mat (backpacks on). Then, they re-shoot it for whatever reason. That happens a lot. At that time of day (sunset = 7:09 pm) 10 minutes makes a big difference in the amount of sunlight. It was certainly a re-shoot because the darker part of it had Jenn & Nate sans backpacks. The movie lights had to come on too. Maybe the batteries were dead and production had to delay a few minutes to get fresh ones.

I agree that the shot shows some mustered composure of some kind in the faces of both racers. Jenn showed just how much she likes to do forced redos in Dubrovnik. No poker face there.

After examining many alternatives to see what the public transportation possibilities are to get teams from Osaka to Taipei before noon, here are my conclusions:

It can't be done unless even if the leg 9 finish was a TBC. The last flight that could get them there in time was at 655pm on July 26, right around the time of the first arrival at the pitstop. It is theoretically possible for teams to have taken the Shinkansen from Osaka to Fukuoka to catch CI111 FUK TPE 1010 1140. That Shinkansen would have to have departed Osaka before 8am. We know from ARA2's use of the Shinkansen that it does operate starting from Tokyo before 6am and arriving Fukuoka airport just before 9am. However, that would be a violation of fundamental Amazing Race principles.

The only way that teams could conceivably get there and have the first 3 teams together is a charter flight, which might take a little longer than the 2.25 hours that commercial flights do. To arrive by 1130am, it would have to depart Osaka by 0900. I do not believe that TK & Rachel were on the same flight if it did happen, as that would be a complete undercutting of the principle of honoring pitstop times.

The only way that teams could conceivably get there and have the first 3 teams together is a charter flight, which might take a little longer than the 2.25 hours that commercial flights do. To arrive by 1130am, it would have to depart Osaka by 0900. I do not believe that TK & Rachel were on the same flight if it did happen, as that would be a complete undercutting of the principle of honoring pitstop times.

They could manage this. The way I see it happening is that the racers get a clue for someplace in Osaka with hours of operation in the morning (like 6 AM), and then go to the airport to sign up for one of two charter flights (departing at say 8 AM and 930 AM). Depending on the number of tasks, TK/Rachel could make it to Taipei 101 by noon/12:15. However, I doubt it, since there appears to be some airport trickery attempted by Christina, which wouldn't be necessary if the racers were using charter flights.

Here is something very farfetched but since our backs are against the wall...

I saw something about Osaka FERRIES to Macau. Is there any possibility that teams could get flights from Macau to make it in time? (Have no clue how long the ferry takes.)

Other options? Discount the Taiwan spoiler placing us there around noon? Is there ANYTHING else we might try--ever since we missed that Dubrovnik ferry I keep saying "think outside the box"--not that it is helping right now!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

That's some real out of the box thinking. However, the distance from Osaka to Macau is 1500 miles and even the fastest hydrofoil would take more than one day. Also, beyond that the last flight from Macau to Taipei is at 955pm and the first flight from Macau to Taipei is at 1155am arriving at 130pm. There is just no conceivable way this makes sense.

This one's for you! There is twice a week ferry service from Japan to Taiwan. However, the days of the week (Wednesday and Saturday) are useless for AR12's purposes). Also, the transit time from mainland Japan is about 3 days. Okinawa it is 22 to 34 hours. Nobody on the Amazing Race would want to do these:

On the question of Osaka via Seoul or Hon Kong here is a vidcap from the show that shows all the flights that had arrived at Osaka's KIX airport when the three teams passed through. It gives us that both flights had arrived (JL962=KE5721 and CX506=JL5120). Had they arrived on the earlier flight from Seoul 40 min ahead of the flight from Hong Kong then why would we see that the Hong Kong flight had already arrived? Forty minutes is too long to linger around after your flight arrives!

Annnnd: Just to check one more clue, I looked at the present-day gates of arrival for the two flights. Maybe the flights pull into different gates at KIX that can be distinguished by what we see in the show.

It turns out that they do go to different gates! I snagged the arrival information from the KIX website and it says that Korean Air 5120 from Seoul goes gate S/31. And that Cathay Pacific 506 from Hong Kong goes to N/11.

So I checked the footage from the show and found this shot of Jenn & Nate at KIX leaving from a large room called "North Arrivals".

Thanks apskip! I had no idea but sure didn't want to miss another ferry! Yep--three days seems just a mite long for our guys! But appreciate your checking...

And WOW Chateau! That is some detecting!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I just wanted to add that Jen's birthday is July 28th or 29th?~All one Racer wants for her birthday is a spot in the Final 3…will her birthday wish be granted?

I'm pretty sure it's 28th.

Where are you seeing that Oliver? When I went to her myspace I saw a few Happy B-Days posted on July29th not that they couldn''t have been belated.

Chateau, I totally missed your post above!! Good job!!!

I first remembered reading it somewhere sometime when the race first began, but I can't really remember where so that made me doubt a bit since I could of been half asleep while reading so it might of been something else I read. =(

But then I was on the Survivorsucks board and I saw a user post that the episode 10 hint would refer to Jen since 'Her birthday is July 28th'

I suppose this is the right place to put this. I used to do the timelines over at Tarflies (under a different username) until I got banned (if you were over there, you would know why). Anyway, I've got a new site starting, and I thought I'd give you the link, since, uh, this is a timeline thread and all.

I have accepted your invitation and checked out your website. I already was familiar with your work at the site which shall not be named. Keep up the good work! RFF is quite friendly toward timelines as well as recaps, which is what I would call what you are doing. We already have two going for AR12 and one for for ARA2, but having one more of each avvailable on your website is a good thing.

Hi David! I always loved your timeline/recaps so I'm so glad you found a way to continue them!

and to RFF!!

« Last Edit: January 11, 2008, 03:25:11 PM by georgiapeach »

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan